第40章

　　as，indeed，wehaveaccepteditwithregardtoallthedeeperflowandfinerexpressionoffeelingeveninthedomesticrelations:foritseemedpedanticandfutiletoprescriberulesforthis，oreventhoughwenaturallyadmireandpraiseanynotungracefulexhibitionofintenseandgenuineaffectiontodelineateanidealofexcellenceforalltoaimat。Still，thereseemedtobeanimportantsphereofstrictduty——howeverhardtodefine——intherelationsofchildrentoparents，etc。，andeveninthecaseoffriendshipitseemscontrarytocommonsensetorecognisenosuchsphere；asitnotunfrequentlyoccurstoustojudgethatonefriendhasbehavedwronglytoanother，andtospeakasiftherewereaclearlycognisablecodeofbehaviourinsuchrelations。

　　Perhaps，however，wemaysaythatallclearcasesofwrongconducttowardsfriendscomeunderthegeneralformulaofbreachofunderstanding。Friendsnotunfrequentlymakedefinitepromisesofservice，butweneednotconsiderthese，astheirviolationisprohibitedbyadifferentandclearermoralrule。Butfurther，asallloveisunderstoodtoincludeadesireforthehappinessofitsobject，theprofessionoffriendshipseemstobindonetoseekthishappinesstoanextentproportionatetosuchprofession。Nowcommonbenevolencecf。ante，&sect；5prescribesatleastthatweshouldrendertoothermensuchservicesaswecanrenderwithoutanysacrifice，orwithasacrificesotriflingastobequiteoutofproportiontotheservicerendered。Andsincetheprofessionoffriendshipthoughthetermisusedtoincludeaffectionsofvariousdegreemustimplyagreaterinterestinone’sfriend’shappinessthaninthatofmeningeneral，itmustannounceawillingnesstomakemoreorlessconsiderablesacrificesforhim，ifoccasionoffers。Ifthenwedeclinetomakesuchsacrifices，wedowrongbyfailingtofulfilnaturalandlegitimateexpectations。SofarthereseemsnosourceofdifficultyexcepttheindefinitenessinevitablyarisingfromthewiderangeofmeaningscoveredbythetermFriendship。Butfurtherquestionsariseinconsequenceofthechangesoffeelingtowhichhumannatureisliable:first，whetheritisourdutytoresistsuchchangesasmuchaswecan；andsecondly，whetherifthiseffortfails，andlovediminishesordeparts，weoughtstilltomaintainadispositiontorenderservicescorrespondingtoourpastaffection。Andonthesepointstheredoesnotseemtobeagreementamongmoralandrefinedpersons。For，ontheonehand，itisnaturaltoustoadmirefidelityinfriendshipandstabilityofaffections，andwecommonlyregardtheseasmostimportantexcellencesofcharacter:andsoitseemsstrangeifwearenottoaimattheseasatallotherexcellences，asnonemorenaturallystirustoimitation。Andhencemanywouldbepreparedtolaydownthatweoughtnottowithdrawaffectiononcegiven，unlessthefriendbehavesill:whilesomewouldsaythateveninthiscaseweoughtnottobreakthefriendshipunlessthecrimeisverygreat。Yet，ontheotherhand，wefeelthatsuchaffectionasisproducedbydeliberateeffortofwillisbutapoorsubstituteforthatwhichspringsspontaneously，andmostrefinedpersonswouldrejectsuchaboon:while，again，toconcealthechangeoffeelingseemsinsincereandhypocritical。

　　Butasforservices，arefinedpersonwouldnotacceptsuchfromaformerfriendwhonolongerloveshim:unlessinextremeneed，whenanykindoftieis，asitwere，invigoratedbythealreadystrongclaimwhichcommonhumanitygiveseachmanuponallothers。Perhaps，therefore，therecannotbeadutytooffersuchservicesinanycase，whentheneedisnotextreme。Thoughthisinferenceisnotquiteclear:forinrelationsofaffectionweoftenpraiseonepartyforofferingwhatweratherblametheotherforaccepting。Butitseemsthatdelicatequestionsofthiskindaremorenaturallyreferredtocanonsofgoodtasteandrefinedfeelingthanofmoralityproper:oratleastonlyincludedinthescopeofmoralityinsofaraswehaveageneraldutytocultivategoodtasteandrefinementoffeeling，likeotherexcellences。

　　Onthewhole，then，wemaysaythatthechiefdifficultiesindeterminingthemoralobligationsoffriendshiparise1fromtheindefinitenessofthetacitunderstandingimpliedintherelation，and2fromthedisagreementwhichwefindastotheextenttowhichFidelityisapositiveduty。Itmaybeobservedthatthelatterdifficultyisespeciallyprominentinrespectofthoseintimaciesbetweenpersonsofdifferentsexwhichprecedeandpreparethewayformarriage。

　　1passnowtothethirdhead，Gratitude。